We already talked about Zigbee previously (please refer to this page). And now, we are going to talk about the similar wireless technology that uses the same concept with Zigbee, the “Z wave”. It may seem not familiar for some people, but it is. Compared to the other wireless technology such as Bluetooth and WLAN, Z wave seems to be unseen. But for several purposes, it is really needed, especially when it comes to certain specialization. So, what is this technology actually is, what is this for, and how does it works? Everything will be explained in below.

The Introduction to Z Wave

Some people call it Zwave, some others call it Z wave, and the rest is Z-wave. It all refers to communication protocols that mostly used for home automation devices.

This protocol, which is called Z wave, was a development product from Danish start-up Company called Zensys in 2004.

It seems like we know where the “Z” mark comes from, right?

Then in 2009, the Zensys Company was acquired by Sigma design, a Californian company that focuses on designing and building system on-a-chip for many kinds of semiconductor technology.

Basically, Z-wave was built under the concept of Zigbee. That’s why both technologies have a lot of things in common, such as frequency, and range of operation. But, what makes it different is that this kind of wireless technology was developed to result simpler protocols than Zigbee.

That’s why the use of this technology is believed to result on the less expensive of budget. Further, just like other communication protocols, the Z-wave technology also employs Radio Frequency (RF) in its operation. And the RF here mostly takes part in the control and signaling sectors.

The Operation of Z Wave

In its operation, Z wave employs 868.42 MHz frequency to get work. But if fact, it is different in every country to avoid interference with other kinds of wireless technology. Only in Europe that use this standard for z-wave operation.

While for US and Canada, their governments allow the use of Z-wave communication in the 908.42 MHz frequency. Further, this network is also able to consist of 232 nodes with several numbers of profiles. But, these profiles do not operate individually since they are working interoperate.

Z wave also works by using routed network topology. It can employ several controllers. But mainly it uses only one as the main controller. The second controller is also exists, but it is only used as an option.

Z wave based devices will communicate to each other by employing the routed nodes and radio dead spot or circumvent household obstacle that possibly occur through message called healing.

A message can be delivered from node A to node C successfully even when they both are not within the range. How could it be? It is because the node A transfer the data to node B, which will deliver it to node C. that’s how communication is supposed to happen in z-wave.

The Z Wave Technology Usage

As stated before, Z wave offers much simpler protocols. This network is developed to offer low latency and more reliability of small packet of data. This is the data packets which only rates up to 100 kbps. Therefore, is perfect to be used at home automation. Some home facilities such as lighting control space, home cinemas, home security system, HVAC, automated window treatments, spa control, and others.

With the functionality above, of course, the usage of Z wave will be very various. And in the future, we believe that there will be much more device that will employs this kind of wireless connection. In closing, we hope that this article will be informative. So, it will be able to update your understanding toward the newest issues of technology. Any thoughts about this articles, the comment session below provided to welcome your opinion.